Roasted Red Capsicum & Potato Soup

I’m not one to follow recipes very often. Much of my cooking is inspired by a recipe and then I go forth and experiment. Such was the case with this soup which was inspired by this post – Chilled Red Pepper Soup with Yogurt and Herbs – though what I made was nothing like the recipe.

I also like my recipes to have “offramps” – points at which you can stop and tada, it is done. This recipe has a couple of offramps..

So here’s what I did, with pics. This is super simple!

1. Chop and prepare 5 capsicums – any colour you like. I chose red today because they were on super special at Aldi. Peel some potatoes – amount is up to your preference, some people might like more potatoes than I used to roast but I knew I would be adding a couple more in at Slow Cooker Time.

2. Check in with your Kitty Supervisor to make sure you have done step 1 correctly. Set the oven to 200 degrees C (400F).

3. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil on base of roasting pan. Smoosh the capsicum and potatoes around in the oil to make sure they are covered with olive oil. Layer your items thoughtfully in your roasting pan so they will provide each other with flavour.

4. Get spicy! Add your choice of spices – you could use any you like, I chose paprika, cinnamon, cayenne, parsley and cracked pepper. Put this in the oven for 1 hour in a covered lid pan – you may need slightly longer and/or a lower temperature for uncovered pans.

5. Remove from oven. Delight in the smell.

Offramp 1

Here, you could boil the kettle, prepare a litre of stock – chicken, veg, your choice. Add the roasted items and stock to a blender, whizz, add some cream, sour cream, or yoghurt, and your soup is ready. If not, continue on with the recipe as follows.

6. Cut up one onion, one fresh red pepper, a few carrots. Saute and sweat these in a saucepan if you are planning to get off at the next offramp, or your slow cooker if you are in this for the long haul.

7. Add in 1 litre stock of your choice, extra potatoes or other vegetables if you would like. Sweet potato (yams) would be wonderful in this. If slow cooking, set for 6 hours.

Offramp 2

If you are not slow cooking, simmer soup on the stove for an hour or until everything is cooked through and mushy. Remove from heat, allow to cool a little, whizz in your blender, add some cream, sour cream, or yoghurt, and your soup is ready.

8. When your slow cooker beeps, remove the soup and allow to cool a little.

9. Whizz in your blender, add some cream, sour cream, or yoghurt, cheese if you like it, stir well, pop it back on the stove to get the soup piping hot again, and your soup is ready